Tempting the Best Man - By J. Lynn Page 0,17
to roam off to God knew where. He doubted she knew. Halfway back to their cabin, she kicked off her heels. Near the cabin next to theirs, she sat down in the middle of the pathway illuminated by the pale glow of the moon.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Taking a break.”
Shaking his head, he walked up behind her. “You haven’t been walking that far.”
“It seems like we’ve been walking forever.” She tipped her back against his knees and grinned. “I’m one of those drunk girls. You know, the kind who sits down in the middle of the street? God…it’s like I’m in college again!”
He frowned. “Did you sit in the middle of the street a lot when you were in college?”
“More times than I remember,” she replied with a chuckle.
“I don’t remember that.”
She raised a hand and pointed at him, but her aim was wobbly, so she ended up popping herself in the face.
He winced and grabbed her small hand, steering it away from her face. “Ouch.”
Maddie didn’t seem to notice that she’d almost knocked out her own teeth. “You weren’t always around, you know.”
Chase fought a grin as he bent down, got his hands under her arms, and lifted her back up. “Am I going to have to carry you? If so, it would complete my badass knight-in-shining-armor act with you today.”
“You are not a knight.” She stumbled forward and then spun around, patting him on the chest hard enough to make him grunt. “But you kind of are. You have a good heart, Chase Gamble.”
Wow. She had blown past ‘just tipsy’. “Okay. I think I might have to carry you.”
She huffed. “I can walk, thank you very much. I was just tired.”
“Thought you weren’t tired.”
“I’m not,” she argued.
He stared at her.
“You’re such a bore.” Maddie staggered ahead and then stopped, tilting her head back on her long, graceful neck. When her hair was loose, it hung clear to her hips when she did that. “The moon is so big.”
There was something big growing in his pants. And he was pretty sure that made him the worst kind of bastard. But he couldn’t help it. Chase was still a man and, off limits or not, Maddie was…she was just Maddie.
Looking over her shoulder, she smiled. “I’m really happy for my brother,” she rambled on. “They’re going to have babies, and I’ll get to be an aunt. I can take them to the Smithsonian, teach them about history and…and stuff.”
“You’re going to turn those kids that don’t exist yet into nerds.”
She held up her finger, placing it an inch from his face, and he had an urge to lick it. “Nerds are cool. You are not.”
Chase laughed as he took her hand, gently pulling her down the pathway. “What kind of stuff will you teach them?”
“Oh, you know, stuff…like the Civil War and how important it is to take care of our battlefields, preserve history…and I’ll get them to volunteer.”
“Will you?” They were almost to the door. Just a few more steps.
She pulled her hand free and pushed him lightly. “Yes, I will. I’m good at my job.”
“I have no doubt.” And he didn’t. Granted, he’d never told Maddie he was proud of all she’d accomplished or how in college she’d always been on the dean’s list.
Maybe he should’ve.
Confused by that, he followed her to the door. Once inside, she made her way to the edge of the bed and sat down heavily.
He turned on a small lamp with a fuchsia shade in the corner and then flipped the switch off on the wall. Less light was probably a good thing.
“So how are we going to do this?” She glanced at the bed and then at him. “Are we having a real sleepover?”
Chase hardened painfully at the thought of just being in bed beside her. “I’ll be taking the couch.”
She stared at him but said nothing. Needing to distance himself, he went over to his luggage, pulled out a pair of lightweight lounge pants and a shirt. “I’ll get changed in the bathroom.”
“Why?”
Was he seriously going to have to explain this to her? By her wide eyes, that would be a yes. “Get changed while I’m in there, Maddie.”
Her lips thinned. “I might have drunk one…or four…too many glasses of wine, but I’m not drunk or stupid.”
Chase was on the fence about the first. Sending her one last meaningful glance, he went into the bathroom, closed the door, and quickly changed. That was when he noticed her little bag of